Entries Tagged 'Teaching Writing' ↓

Words Matter Week: Day 2

Words matter. And not just the words themselves, but also the grammar, spelling, and punctuation that make those words easier and more pleasant to read and understand.

In truth, no one particularly notices when a piece of writing is structurally sound and fairly free of errors. When the reader isn’t distracted by gross misspellings or misplaced apostrophes, he’s able to take in the words and thoughts in a simple, straightforward manner. That’s one reason it’s so important that we write with care—and teach our kiddos to do the same.

Does Casual Writing Have Its Place?

This isn’t to say that everything we write needs to be pressed through the “grammar sieve” to strain out every wayward punctuation mark or imprecise word. I’m all for casual writing in the appropriate context, such as a quick note left on the kitchen table or a slapdash email to a friend. And I truly understand typing errors we all make when our flying fingers transpose a couple of letters or we miss the “shift” key. 

But when a piece of writing–even a casual email or comment on a discussion board–contains pervasive errors, keyboard accidents can no longer be blamed. As an example, here’s a simple snippet from a blog comment I came across some time ago:

now i know its been WAY to long!! the only one I can reckonsie is Alvin and thats because hes a boy! I so need to come a visit ya’ll this summer and see the family, its been to meny years

Oh, dear.

Judging a Book by Its Cover

Our writing can reveal certain things about us. For example, what conclusions do you draw about this particular writer based on her one little writing sample? Is she kind? Friendly? Most likely. Educated? Careful? Attentive to detail? Probably not.

Granted, careless grammar doesn’t bother everyone. People who don’t use proper grammar and spelling themselves won’t know (or for that matter, care) whether you or your children use proper grammar and spelling.

But many people are pretty picky about such things—college admissions folks and employers among them. Your student’s writing may be judged and perhaps even rejected simply for failing to stick to conventions. Why?

• Valid arguments lose their credibility and impact when the text is riddled with typos and grammatical errors.
• Spelling errors and poor grammar can suggest that a job or college applicant is sloppy at best and ignorant or uneducated at worst.
• If an employee is not attentive to detail in emails, reports, or memos, the promotion may go to someone who is. 

Conventions? What Conventions?

OK, I admit it. It’s hard for me to write anything—even an e-mail—without editing and revising it a dozen times. I’m sure part of that comes from being a writer and an author of a writing curriculum. I feel like my writing is always under the microscope, even when it’s not.

This doesn’t mean everyone has to be that way. A quickie email to a good friend can have a bunch of sentence fragments and a misspelled word—and in that context, who really cares? But when writing is up for public scrutiny—even on a discussion board—and you hope to be taken seriously, you’ll want to give as much attention to convention as to content.

Find the Errors

Just for kicks, scroll back up to the writing sample and see how many errors you can find before you read my list below. There are a lot! Even better, ask your children to edit it. It would make a great lesson.

Here are the mistakes I found.

• now – should be Now (as in: Now, children, a sentence always begins with a capital.)
• i – should be I
• its – missing apostrophe (it’s)
• to – should be too
• !! – never use more than one exclamation point
• the – see #1
• reckonsie – should be recognize (as in: I almost didn’t recognize that word.)
• thats – missing apostrophe (see #2)
• hes – missing apostrophe (notice a pattern here?)
• a visit – and visit? for a visit?
• y’all – I’ll give her this one since it’s a casual note.
• comma splice – …see the family; it’s been too many years; or …see the family. It’s been too many years; or …see the family because it’s been too many years.
• its, to – see #2 and #3
• meny = should be spelled many (as in: Goodness! I’ve found so many mistakes.)

So . . . how’d you do? Did I miss anything?

The “Final Draft”

Here’s the gussied-up version—with proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation:

Now I know it’s been WAY too long! The only one I can recognize is Alvin, and that’s because he’s a boy! I so need to come visit y’all this summer and see the family; it’s been too many years.

The friendly sentiments shine through, don’t they? It’s like cleaning soot from a window. Instead of zeroing in on the grimy, dirty pane, we can focus on the cheerful scene beyond the glass.

Just as cleaning up grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors greatly enhanced the message above, editing and polishing our own writing can clear the way for our message too. So make it a point to teach your children proper writing conventions, because words—and the way we write them—matter.

. . . . .

Don’t forget to enter our Words Matter Week haiku contest. Deadline is Sunday, March 7, 2010.

Words Matter Week: Day 1

Every single day, almost without fail, the poetry lessons draw more folks to this blog than any other article (with the two most frequently accessed posts being Writing a Diamante Poem and Cinquain Poetry). 

This inspired me to launch right into Words Matter Week by introducing a brand-new lesson: how to write haiku (and offer a fun contest too)!

What Is Haiku?

Japanese in origin, haiku is not based on rhyme, but on a pattern of syllables. At three lines long, haiku is a poem of economy. Traditionally, only 17 syllables are allowed, so a finished haiku may end up being just 12 or 13 words long.

By its nature, haiku is concrete and concise, capturing a single moment in a mere handful of words. It’s a tall order to write a poem full of rich imagery, paint a picture in the reader’s mind, and leave an impression on a heart or soul—and do so with so few words.

Every word counts, and that’s why—perhaps more than any other poetry genre—haiku is especially fitting for Words Matter Week.

Writing Haiku: An Experience with Nature

Choosing a Subject for Your Poem

Haiku poems celebrate appreciation for beauty and nature. Plants, animals, water, weather, and seasons are often subjects of haiku. Powerful yet sensitive, these poems communicate a mood or tone without actually using words to describe feelings. 

Red and gold poppies
explode with fresh spring colors,
invading my yard.

Notice how this haiku expresses a crisp, springy, bright feeling. You can picture a tired winter garden coming to life. The words never actually say, “After a cold, colorless winter, I am so happy and cheered to see flowers again!” Yet this is the message the poem brings. 

In the darkest wood
with heads hanging mournfully,
weeping willows cry.

This poem gives a feeling of sadness, even though the words don’t tell you how the poet feels, or how you should feel. Notice how personification helps to communicate this tone. When writing your haiku, think about the emotions you want your reader to experience. Paint a picture with your words to express a mood.

Formatting Your Haiku Poem

Some poetry forms require the writer to follow a certain format, or structure. You may remember that cinquains and diamantes, for example, call for you to use an exact number of words within an exact number of lines. Haiku, on the other hand, requires you to carefully count syllables instead of words. This form of poetry always uses 3 lines and 17 syllables.

Line 1: 5 syllables
Line 2: 7 syllables
Line 3: 5 syllables

When counting out syllables, listen to the beat within a word, silently tapping it out on the table. Usually, a syllable is marked by a vowel sound. “Butterfly” has three syllables (but/ter/fly). The word “cocoon” contains two syllables (co/coon). The word “exuberantly” has five (ex/u/ber/ant/ly). “Flight” has only one (flight).

Because your entire poem is only 17 syllables, every single word must be carefully chosen to say exactly what you want to communicate. Rely heavily on a good thesaurus for terrific, specific words! Your thesaurus will also be useful when you need to find a synonym of more or fewer syllables that will fit better on a line of your poem.

What to Do if a Line Contains Too Few or Too Many Syllables

> Either leave out or add articles (a, an, the) to shorten or lengthen the number of syllables. Example: a six-syllable line must be shortened to five syllables.

A/ small/ frog/ trills/ loudly = 6 syllables
Small/ frog/ trills/ loud/ly = 5 syllables (drop the “a”)

> Use your thesaurus to find a similar word that will fit.

Suppose your haiku looks like this:

Thunder clouds follow me (6)
booming from behind (5)
the sky is so mad. (5)

Do you see how each line has too many or too few syllables? Let’s look at them one at a time.

Example: the first line of a haiku poem must be 5 syllables long.

Thun/der/ clouds/ fol/low/ me = 6 syllables (it’s too long – you need 5 syllables)

Now, look up follow in the thesaurus. Can you find a one-syllable word that will fit? (chase)

Thun/der/ clouds/ chase/ me = 5 syllables (this will work)

> Look for a word to drop.

Thun/der/ clouds/ fol/low = 5 syllables (just drop the “me”)

> Find a different way to say a similar thing. Often your thesaurus will help, but sometimes you just need to think! How can you express the same message while adjusting the number of syllables?

Example 1: The second line must be 7 syllables.

boom/ing/ from/ be/hind = 5 syllables (it’s too short – need 7 syllables)
bel/low/ing/ from/ a/ dis/tance = 7 syllables (use longer words)

Example 2: The third line must be 5 syllables.

the/ sky/ is/ so/ mad = 5 syllables

The number of syllables is correct—so what’s wrong with this line? Remember that you want to avoid “to be” words such as is, and empty words such as so:

the/ an/gry/ sky/ shouts = 5 syllables, OR
the/ black/ sky/ threat/ens = 5 syllables

While still expressing a “mad” feeling, these lines use more specific words that paint a fuller picture.

OK, here’s the finished haiku poem:

Thunder clouds chase me (5)
bellowing from a distance (7)
the angry sky shouts. (5)

Should haiku have a title? Typically not. If you think it needs a title to better explain the poem, do your best to work the title into the poem by removing and replacing words. Use your new syllable skills to help!

Copyright © 2010 Kim Kautzer. All rights reserved.

A Haiku Contest for Words Matter Week!

Now it’s time for you and your children to write some haiku! Everyone who posts a haiku poem in the comments section between now and March 7 will be entered in a contest.

• First Place: One winner will be chosen randomly to win your choice of a $10 Barnes and Noble gift card or a $20 WriteShop gift certificate.
• Second Place: I know it will be hard to decide on a winner, but I’m going to give second place to my favorite haiku poem. If there are too many “favorites,” I’ll draw from among them.

The Rules

1. Only one entry per person is allowed, so pick your best poem.
2. More than one family member may enter as long as each entry is separate and email addresses are different.
3. Your haiku must be formatted properly in order to qualify for a prize.
4. To win a physical gift, winner must have a U.S. mailing address.
5. I will notify winners on March 8. As soon as they’re confirmed, I’ll announce the winners on the blog.

Happy Words Matter Week . . . and happy writing!

~Kim

“Descriptive writing is an art form. It’s painting a word picture so that the reader ’sees’ exactly what you are describing.”

~Brenda Covert

What’s the big deal about writing descriptively? For one thing, it’s much more than page-filling fluff. Descriptive writing imprints images into the reader’s mind, making you feel as though you’re “right there.” It‘s all about engaging the five senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch to transport the reader and stir emotion. By choosing vivid details and colorful words, good writers bring objects, people, places, and events to life. Instead of merely telling you what they see, they use their words to show you.

Writers use this powerful method to make their pieces memorable—even brilliant—rather than dry and boring. In many ways, description is the most important kind of writing you can teach your children because it supports other reasons for writing such as storytelling, informative reports, or persuasion.

So even if your child never aspires to write stories or poetry, description is a wonderful skill to develop, for without it, all other writing falls flat.

Describing a Place

Vivid writing is especially important when describing a place—whether to describe a vista for a travel guide or flesh out a scene in a novel. 

Master storyteller Charles Dickens was also a master of using description to create a particular mood or idea.

It was a town of machinery and tall chimneys, out of which interminable serpents of smoke trailed themselves for ever and ever, and never got uncoiled. It had a black canal in it, and a river that ran purple with ill-smelling dye, arid vast piles of building full of windows where there was a rattling and a trembling all day long, and where the piston of the steam-engine worked monotonously up and down, like the head of an elephant in a state of melancholy madness. ~Charles Dickens, Hard Times

But your child doesn’t have to be a Dickens to add color, depth, and interest to his writing. Here, a ninth grader draws on all five senses to describe a place and set an effective mood.

Moist and salty, a chilly breeze blows in across the swells, bringing with it the pungent smells of seaweed and fish and making me pull my jacket a little closer. Sea spray transforms into fiery prisms as the waves splash against the shore, catch the last golden rays of sun, and toss them up like liquid crystals.

With a few tips and tools, your child can effectively describe a  place too.

Suppose he’s planning to describe a desert. He’ll need to describe basic desert features, of course: sand, rock, hills, and dunes. But deserts aren’t all alike, so his word choices will need to reflect the kind of desert he wants to write about. For example, if he chooses a desert in the southwestern United States, he’ll probably describe plants such as sagebrush, Joshua trees, yuccas, or saguaro cacti.

But if he’s writing about an oasis in the Sahara Desert, where vegetation is much different, he would instead describe date palms, oleanders, acacia trees, succulents, and desert grasses. His description of either desert scene will spring to life as he describes these places with rich and appropriate details.

Finding Vocabulary to Describe a Place

How do you help your child study his subject and choose vivid words that make his writing sparkle? Whether he decides to write about a desert, city, rainforest, or pond, these ideas will help him find words that will form the foundation of his descriptive piece, narrative story, or report.

Using a Search Engine

Search engines such as Google makes a great resource for inspiration. In addition to collecting general terms about the location’s flora and fauna (the desert, for example), he’ll also find concrete, specific nouns and adjectives that will add color to his writing. Suggest that he begin his search by looking up terms like these:

• desert landscape
• desert features
• desert climate
• desert plants
• desert animals
• desert description

What if your child wants to describe a city instead of a desert? City words are trickier to find, and he may have to hunt more. Try some of these search terms:

• describe city sights
• describe Chicago, describe Pittsburgh, etc.
• “describe downtown” (use quotes)

Using Other Sources

While search engines can lead you to a wealth of information, don’t discount the value of print media such as magazines and books, or digital media such as TV documentaries or DVDs about the subject.

If possible, visit the place in person. But if not, can you explore a spot with similar features? Many children are visual and tactile learners. If your child wants to describe what a sidewalk looks like, how about taking him outside to explore the sidewalk on your street? It will help him describe the texture, color, and appearance of a city sidewalk, even if you live in a suburb.

Expanding Vocabulary

As your child searches the Internet, ask him to keep an eye out for adjectives that describe desert or city features (or whatever place he wants to write about). Encourage him to come up with words on his own, but also to watch for words he comes across in articles or photo captions.

If he doesn’t understand some of the words, pull out the dictionary and make it a teaching moment! And show him how to use a thesaurus (we love The Synonym Finder) to find other words that say the same thing. Both of these exercises will help his vocabulary to grow.

Some Desert Adjectives

Desert: harsh, dry, arid, sparse, severe, hot
Rock: sharp, rough, jagged, angular
Grasses: windblown, bent, dry, pale green, brown
Sand: coarse, fine, glittering, shifting, rippling, sifting, white, golden
Sky: pale, intense, cloudless, azure, purple, crimson
Cactus: tall, short, squatty, spiny, prickly, thorny
Date palm: tall, bent, leather (leaves), frayed (leaves)

Some City Adjectives

City: active, bustling, noisy, busy, clean, dirty, windy
Traffic: loud, congested, snarled
Buildings: old, shabby, rundown, crumbling,  modern, futuristic, sleek, towering, squat
Buildings (walls): brick, stone, marble, glass, steel, graffiti-covered
Monuments, statues: stone, copper, carved, ancient, moss-covered, faded, green, bronze
Sidewalk: concrete, cement, slick, cracked, tidy, littered, swept
Paint: fresh, weathered, peeling
Signs: neon, weathered, worn, bright, welcoming, flashing
Buses, cars, taxis: belching, crawling, speeding, honking, waiting, screeching
People: hurried, bundled, smiling, frowning, eager, rushed

Use these suggestions to encourage your child come up with ideas for describing his own place. You’ll both discover that hunting for words can become a favorite pre-writing game! And as your child dabbles more and more with descriptive writing, I’m confident his words will soon begin to “show” more and “tell” less.

. . . . .

Do you struggle with teaching and grading writing? Does your child’s writing need a boost? Consider adding WriteShop to your curriculum choices for this school year!

The first seven lessons of WriteShop I specifically teach your teen descriptive writing. This important skill is then practiced in the remaining informative and narrative writing lessons. In addition, WriteShop teaches—and offers practice in using—a wide array of sentence variations that help to enhance a student’s paper with fresh style and vigor. When combined with strong, dynamic word choices, sentence variations give dull writing new life.

For younger children, WriteShop Primary introduces K-3rd graders to activities that widen their writing vocabulary. Book C contains three  specific descriptive writing lessons.

For more information, visit our website at http://www.writeshop.com/.

Don’t you just love watching your kids develop a sense of humor? I get such a kick out of the things my grandchildren find funny. I wish I could bottle up every silly story, giggle, and laugh and save them for a rainy day!

Once children reach age six or seven, they’re ready to start having fun with humor in their writing. Even if your child is a bit on the serious side, here’s a brainstorming activity designed to help kids think about ideas for writing a funny story.

Advance Prep

Read some funny picture books together. Depending on your child’s age, you can find some great funny-bone ticklers out there!

Since your goal is simply to introduce humor in writing, use this time to read short books with simple yet humorous themes, even if your child’s reading level is more advanced. Here are a few suggestions:

• Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type
• Amelia Bedelia books 
• Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!
• The Duchess Bakes a Cake

Prepare a blank comic strip for your child to fill in by dividing a piece of computer paper into six equal blank squares to resemble a comic strip. Make the squares as large as possible, perhaps making two rows of three.

Draw a simple story web on a sheet of paper. Draw a circle in the middle and six lines extending out from the circle to resemble a web.

Brainstorm for a Humorous Story

If your child is not familiar with comic strips, show her some examples from the newspaper or www.comics.com.

1. Choose a main character. Ask your child to choose a main character for her funny story (animals, birds, or dinosaurs make good subjects).

2. Think of a story idea that features the main character. If your child can’t decide on an original funny story idea, encourage her to use an idea from a comic or humorous story she already knows.

3. Fill in the story web.

• Write the topic in the center circle of the story web.
• Write the details of the story on the story web. Gently prompt her to suggest the details by asking:

Who is the main character of this story?
What happened in the beginning of the story?
What happened next?
Tell me something really funny that happened.
How did the story end?

• Write down ideas for a title on the story web.

Draw the Comic Strip

Your child will not need to do any writing for this activity.

• Give her the blank comic strip you prepared. Ask her to draw one picture in each frame using the details from the story web.
• Since this is the brainstorming stage, discourage her from drawing the pictures in detail. Simple stick figures are best.

 .  .  .  .  .

This is just one of the many fun and creative projects and activities WriteShop Primary uses to reinforce simple writing skills at the primary level. In Book B, children learn to write a funny story using the steps of the writing process, beginning with pre-writing and brainstorming and ending with a published final draft.

We parents give an awful lot of thought to what our children will do once we’re done homeschooling. Will they go to college or university? Take a vocational track? Enter the ministry? Will they become scientists or mortgage lenders? Clerical workers or nurses? Entrepreneurs or educators?

One thing seems clear: No matter the profession, studies show it’s more important than ever that your teen develop good writing skills if he or she hopes to get—and keep—a job.

Writing: A Ticket to Work . . . or a Ticket Out

According to a 2004 survey polling 120 American corporations (whose payrolls include nearly 8 million people), an employee’s writing skills can either hinder or advance him in the company.

The survey may be a few years old, but its ramifications remain relevant in 2010. Here are some of the survey’s findings:

• People who cannot write and communicate clearly will not be hired and are unlikely to last long enough to be considered for promotion.
• Two-thirds of salaried employees in large American companies have some writing responsibility. “All employees must have writing ability,” said one human resource director.
• Eighty percent or more of the companies in the service and finance, insurance, and real estate (FIRE) sectors, the corporations with the greatest employment growth potential, assess writing during hiring. “Applicants who provide poorly written letters wouldn’t likely get an interview,” commented one insurance executive.
• Half of all companies take writing into account when making promotion decisions.
• More than 40 percent of responding firms offer or require training for salaried employees with writing deficiencies. Based on the survey responses, it appears that remedying deficiencies in writing may cost American firms as much as $3.1 billion annually. “We’re likely to send out 200–300 people annually for skills-upgrade courses like ‘business writing’ or ‘technical writing,’” said one respondent.

You can read the entire report here.

Focus on Key Writing Skills

What does this mean for your child? Simply, it doesn’t matter whether or not she’s college-bound. If she expects to succeed in the workplace, she’ll need to demonstrate better-than-average writing skills.

So make sure you’re focusing on basic but key writing skills throughout junior high and high school to adequately prepare her. Minimally, by the time your teen graduates from high school, she should know how to:

• Write a clear, well-organized essay.
• Write a business letter.
• Use correct grammar.
• Use proper punctuation, such as correct use of quotation marks and apostrophes.
• Use good sentence structure, including avoiding run-on sentences and sentence fragments.
• Avoid using slang and shortcuts common to texting and instant messaging.
• Properly site sources (avoiding plagiarism).
• Self-edit and proofread her own writing.

Helpful Resources

If you’re looking for a place to start or need a few supplemental resources, check out some of these links and products:

• WriteShop - Solid composition and essay skills for junior high & high school
• How to Write a Business Letter
• Editor in Chief  – Practice with editing and proofreading skills
• OWL at Purdue - Proofreading and self-editing tips
• The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation - Practice, reinforce, or teach grammar and punctuation skills
• How to Cite Your Sources - A great resource!

Welcome back to our tenth—and final—article in the series 10 Stumbling Blocks to Writing. I’ve really enjoyed writing each one, and I hope you’ve found them inspirational too.

Today I’m going to spend a few minutes looking at a different kind of stumbling block altogether: learning challenges. But first…

Win a $25 Gift Certificate

NOTE: This is the last week to enter our drawing for a $25 WriteShop gift certificate. It’s easy! Just leave a comment at any Stumbling Blocks article. You can earn up to eleven chances in the drawing by commenting on all eleven articles. Deadline to leave comments for the drawing is January 16 at noon PST.

Stumbling Block #10

Problem: Learning challenges create many stumbling blocks to writing.

Solution: Short writing projects, frequent practice, and bite-size assignments are some of the ways to make the writing process manageable.

Does Your Child Learn with Difficulty?

Has your child been diagnosed with dyslexia, dysgraphia, Asperger’s, or ADHD? Does he have an auditory or visual processing disorder? Depending on the severity, it’s likely that his symptoms interfere with schooling to some degree.

Many such children live in a world littered with stumbling blocks that make learning a struggle. While these can include physical limitations like arm and shoulder tension or vision problems, a learning challenge will ultimately result in difficulty performing mental tasks like math problems or writing.

Writing issues can include:

• Awkward or tight pencil grip
• Illegible handwriting
• Poor word and line spacing
• Poor written expression
• Problems with details (paying too little attention or obsessing too much)
• Inattention and carelessness
• Disorganization
• Impulsiveness and difficulty planning
• Poor self-monitoring skills

Helping the Learning-Challenged Student

How do you come up with a plan to help your learning-challenged student? First, recognize that parents are a child’s first and best teachers. You know your child better than anyone, and you care more deeply about his needs. There is much you can do!

I’m certainly not an expert in this area, but I can offer you some helpful suggestions. For starters:

• Establish a distraction-free work space for your child to do schoolwork: quiet, well lit, uncluttered.
• Set a regular time to study with your child, and work closely with him.
• Help him organize study materials before beginning.

As for writing, there are many things you can do to help a child who learns with difficulty. Consider using these ideas:

Graphic organizers

Students do better when they can use graphic organizers such as mind-maps (clustering), charts, lists, or diagrams to help them outline and plan their work.

Lesson-specific checklists

It’s important for the struggling learner to be able to mark his progress. Provide a lesson-specific—rather than a one-size-fits-all—writing checklist for every assignment to walk him through self-editing step by step. A checklist (such as the comprehensive checklists found in WriteShop I) reminds him of every element that needs his attention. As he compares his rough draft to the checklist, he can make corrections and improvements.

A visually-overwhelmed student can use a plain sheet of paper to help him track each line of the checklist. 

Colored pencils

Have your child use colored pencils to circle or underline potential corrections. Each color can be used for a different strategy: capitalization, spelling, punctuation, repeated words, dull or vague words, etc. The colors provide students with a focus for editing and revising as they revisit their work for each task.

Frequent repetition and practice

Make sure writing lessons build on previously-learned skills. Good checklists help students apply these skills regularly.

Short, specific assignments

Writing projects that are short, contained, and relevant are more effective than fuzzy, open-ended, “write-whatever-you-want” assignments. Single-paragraph compositions are excellent for students who have trouble staying focused. Whether they’re overwhelmed by longer assignments, or they ramble and take rabbit trails, short assignments help them stay on task. 

And just as important, make sure your writing program includes topic ideas and clear directions. Give specific requirements for each lesson, from brainstorming to writing, so your student always knows what he needs to do.

Tasks broken into bite-size chunks

A child doesn’t have to learn with difficulty to benefit from working on a writing project in small increments. Breaking the writing process into manageable steps helps all students, including those who are disorganized, lazy, easily overwhelmed, or prone to procrastination. Spreading out assignments over time allows for paragraphs to rest between drafts and eases anxiety and stress.

Appeal to different learning styles

A multisensory approach to writing  helps many students who learn with difficulty.

• Visual: Use graphic organizers and checklists, calendar or schedule, and written instructions.
• Auditory: Play word games, give verbal instructions, ask questions to prompt writing.
• Kinesthetic: Describe textured objects the child can pick up and touch. Same for foods: touching and tasting the real thing makes it easier to describe. When writing about a place, take a notebook and pen and vist the place so your child can describe it firsthand.

Next Monday, January 18, I’ll be announcing the winner of the $25 gift certificate! I hope it’s you!

Copyright © 2010 Kim Kautzer. All rights reserved.

. . . . .

WriteShop and WriteShop Primary make excellent choices for the homeschooling parent with a learning-challenged child. Their step-by-step instructions, helpful schedules and lesson plans, and appeal to different learning styles are just a few of the reasons parents have loved using WriteShop.

Most children are natural-born storytellers. They may not have much love for pencil and paper, but it’s not unusual for them to talk your ear off as they share about their day or weave a make-believe story about a blue bird named Monkey George who flew off to buy Band-Aids because he hurt his foot.

Your littles are learning—learning to use their ever-expanding vocabulary, hold pencils properly, and write letters, words, and simple sentences. They’re figuring out that there’s a relationship between spoken and written words.

Whether you choose to use an actual writing curriculum for kindergarten, first, or second grade, or just forge ahead on your own, there are simple activities you can do to foster a love of words and writing in your younger children. Here are three fun ones to get you started!

Write Little Notes

I still remember those sticky, wrinkled, crayon-scribbled notes my children used to write:  Deer mom I louv you so so much! 

To their delight, sometimes I’d stick a note under a pillow or in a pocket for them to find in return. Kids love getting those notes! Write them on index cards, scraps of notebook paper. or hearts cut from colored card stock. The medium doesn’t matter! Roll up flimsy notes and tie them with a piece of string or yarn and hide them in a pajama drawer. Slip sturdy flat ones under a door, into a coat pocket or library book, or under a dinner plate. 

Your children will feel so loved to fnd each special mini-letter! Piggyback on their enthusiasm by encouraging them to write little notes of their own and hide them for others to find. They’ll love it!

Narrate a Wordless Picture Book

Using a wordless picture book, your child can make up a story either orally or in writing to accompany the illustrations. If she can’t write well, let her tell her story as you write it down for her. Try some of these to get her started:

• Good Night, Gorilla 
• Noah’s Ark (Picture Yearling Book) 
• Pancakes for Breakfast 
• Frog on His Own (Boy, Dog, Frog) 

Use Story Starters

Not all children enjoy making up stories, but if they have the basic story elements in place—such as character, setting, and some sort of storyline or plot—they’ll often take right off. World of Animals and World of People StoryBuilders are perfect for this! The printable cards make great writing prompts and set kids off on a story-writing adventure with humorous or inspiring ideas like these:

• A disobedient dinosaur finds a secret tunnel under the bed
• A spunky spider plans a surprise in the grandfather clock
• Disaster strikes while a clever inventor is at the library

Again, make a point of letting pre-writers or children with limited patience or vocabulary dictate to you while you write their words. You’ll get so much more from them if they don’t have to labor over the paper. Older or more skilled writers can tackle the writing on their own. You can even share the pencil and take turns writing parts of the story in round-robin fashion.

Above all, this early elementary age is the time to keep writing fun for your child—and these three simple suggestions will help you do just that.

Sometimes, your teen’s opposition to writing has nothing at all to do with laziness, procrastination, perfectionism, or confidence—and everything to do with relevance. In other words, she resists writing because she wonders: What’s the point?

This brings us to today’s article in the series on 10 Stumbling Blocks to Writing.

Stumbling Block #9

Problem: (1) Your student can’t see a purpose for the assignment itself, or (2) she can’t understand why she has to go through all the steps of the writing process.

Solution: (1) Make writing assignments relevant, and (2) help your student see the value of refining her work.

Make Writing Assignments Relevant

Though it’s nice to give our children choices and options, the kind of writing (such as a short report, book summary, or compare/contrast essay) — and even the specific topic of that composition — will be dictated to them from time to time. Like it or not, sometimes they have to write on a subject of our choosing, and there’s just no way around it.

Still, for the most part, students are more willing to write if the assignment feels purposeful. Writing for writing’s sake—to describe a sunset, for example—may not motivate them at all. But writing as it applies to their Civil War studies or a lesson on botany will make more sense to them—and may even spark enthusiasm—especially if it’s a subject they love.

So whenever possible, look for ways to tailor the topic to your students’ interests and passions. After all, the more relevant the writing assignment, the more likely they’ll cooperate.

Writing across the curriculum is one way to accomplish this. You retain control over the general subject matter while offering your child more specific topic choices. Some of these ideas may help get you started:

• Using diaries to write about history
• Projects: Great writing alternatives
• Journaling . . . with a twist

Demonstrate the Value of the Writing Process

Getting kids to write can be challenging enough, but getting them to embrace the whole writing process is another thing altogether. Each step of the writing process is vital, from brainstorming to final draft, but students often think of these “extra steps” as time wasters.

Editing, revising, and rewriting, for instance, can be downright painful—for both of you! Most kids hate this part of the writing process. They like what they wrote; therefore, they’re highly resistant to making any changes. Regardless of how loudly, tearfully, or convincingly they protest, this is a necessary part of the writing process, and something all writers—including your children—have to do.

Other Skills Take Many Steps

Illustrate how other skills require many steps too, and how these steps are quite similar to the prewriting, brainstorming, drafting, and revising that comprise the writing process.

For instance, playing a musical instrument, a sport, or a video game requires investment of time and a working out of many steps. After all, how do you get to a new skill level except by practice? This makes perfect sense to your teen.

She can also grasp that in order to create a new recipe, a chef has to prepare a dish several times so he can figure out how to improve it. Is it too bland? Too dry? Could it use a topping? Is the texture pleasing to the palate? How would it taste with less salt? More vanilla?  

The chef tastes each batch, adds or removes seasonings, and adjusts ingredient quantities. When he’s satisfied, he prepares the dish for others and asks for feedback. Then it’s back to the test kitchen once again! 

No Author Publishes His First Draft

A chef would never add an untested item to his restaurant’s menu until he’s sure it’s the best it can be. Refining and perfecting his recipe is a process, and it takes time and patience.

Would your child dream of playing a brand-new or unfamiliar sonatina at her piano recital? Of course not! It’s the piece she’s practiced and refined that she feels more comfortable presenting.

Similarly, no author ever publishes his first draft. His book or article goes through repeated self-editing—and numerous revisions—before he feels ready to submit it to his editor, who in turn adds his own suggestions for improvement. Your child would not enjoy her favorite novels nearly as much had a wise editor not repeatedly put the author through the steps of the editing process.

Remind your resistant writer that she goes through the writing process with a goal in mind: the final draft. After all, it’s not the rough draft that becomes her published writing project; it’s the polished and revised version that she’ll want to share with others.

Once she’s gone through the revising process, ask her to compare her first draft with the final version. When she can see the progress she’s made from that rough beginning to her very best attempt—the final draft, the purpose for the steps in the writing process becomes clearer. Hopefully this means less whining as she learns to approach the steps of the writing process with an improved attitude!

Next week we wrap up our 10 Stumbling Blocks to Writing series with a special focus on special needs: Stumbling Block #10– Learning Challenges.

Share a comment: Which step of the writing process does your child most resist—brainstorming, writing, or revising?

Leaving a comment at any Stumbling Blocks article enters you into a drawing for a $25 WriteShop gift certificate. You can earn up to eleven chances in the drawing by commenting on all eleven articles. There’s still time to comment on any previous post!

2010 © Kim Kautzer. All rights reserved.

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The Teacher’s Manual for WriteShop I and WriteShop II includes ideas for writing across the curriculum. Suggestions for applying each lesson’s skills to a topic of current study appear in Appendix B. 

Photo of girl courtesy of stock.xchng

We can get it in our minds that “writing” means a composition with a proper introduction, conclusion, and three main points sandwiched in between. It’s easy to forget that although writing can be as complex as a research paper, it can also be as simple as making lists.

Writing with lists is still…writing!

Yep—list-making is a bona fide writing activity!

Most children like to create lists anyway, but writing out lists—from the mundane to the meaningful—also helps them become more organized. Taken a step further, when list-making is used as a brainstorming tool, it can even help students plan the elements of an essay or story.

So where do you start? Here are some suggestions for your budding list-makers:

• List your various personal possessions such as baseball cards, stuffed animals, shoes, or CDs.
• Inventory furniture in a room or items in a junk drawer, jewelry box, or medicine cabinet.
• List states you’ve traveled to, friends you know, or places you’d like to visit.
• Make lists of schoolwork, dates for soccer practice and games, family birthdays, to-do lists, etc.

Holiday list-making ideas

Ways We Can Serve Others

There are so many ways your family can think of others, particularly at the holidays. Encourage your kids to list ideas such as baking cookies for a neighbor, packing a shoebox for child in a third-world country, or giving away some of their own toys to needy children.

Christmas or Holiday Traditions

Make a list of your family’s favorite holiday activities. As an example, here’s a list of Kautzer Christmas traditions:

1. Watch lots of Christmas movies
2. Make gingerbread houses
3. Annual neighborhood cookie exchange party
4. Big family dinner Christmas Eve
5. New Christmas jammies
6. Candlelight service at 11 p.m.
7. Block off the stairway with toilet paper so no one sneaks downstairs Christmas morning
8. Stockings first, then breakfast, then presents under the tree
9. Freeze fresh peaches in July for Christmas breakfast
10. New ornament for each grandchild: Eli – snowmen; Grant - bears; Ryan – cookie ornaments; Hannah and Tiana – angels; Ginny – farm animals
11. Jesus got three gifts from the wise men, so each person gets three presents under the tree.

Christmas Wish Lists

Write out a wish list—and not just a list of things your child wants to get for Christmas (though that’s always fun too). In addition, how about a list that tells what your child thinks someone else would like. For example, Grandma might want:

1. Warm slippers.
2. A handwritten note from me.
3. A picture of me.
4. Someone to shovel snow from her sidewalk.
5. To go out to breakfast with Dad and me. 

Year-round list-making fun

Try some of these suggestions to spark ideas for using list-making as part of your schooling all year long. Though lists are useful and fun for all ages and learning styles, they especially appeal to reluctant writers or students with learning difficulties because they’re short, contained, and relevant.

1. Book of Lists. Buy each child a special spiral notebook or journal. This can become his or her own personal Book of Lists.
2. School Assignments. For starters, your children could make lists of books they’ve read this year, countries or states they’ve studied, Colonial American occupations they’ve learned about, American presidents, British monarchs, 27 prepositions, or eight items one might put into an historical time capsule.
3. 10 Things. Write a series of ”10 Things” lists: 10 New Year’s resolutions, 10 favorite cookies, 10 joyful moments, 10 things I should throw away, etc.
4. Adding Flair. Suggest illustrating some of the pages or adding personal photos or pictures cut from magazines or old calendars.
5. Lists Galore. Check out the Writing Fix Personal List Generator. This clever tool generates a random question, which your child answers by making a list. Should you want to take it one step further, there’s also an assignment for writing a related composition. If list-making is your goal, simply skip the composition. Alternatively, make note of the composition topic and assign it another time.
6. The List and Nothing but the List. Remember that the list itself can (and often should) be the goal. Don’t get hung up on needing to see paragraphs every time.

Share a comment: Make a list of any kind in the comment box, whether it’s today’s errand list, a list of supplies you need for a new project, or a list of skills you’d like to learn. Be creative!

2009 © Kim Kautzer. All rights reserved.

In our series on 10 Stumbling Blocks to Writing, last week we looked at the problem of laziness. But laziness has a close cousin in the obstacle we’ll explore today: procrastination.

Stumbling Block #7

Problem: The procrastinator waits till the last minute to write her paper.

Solution: Break up assignments over time and provide accountability for your student.

The Pressure of Procrastination

If it weren’t for the last minute, I wouldn’t get anything done.  ~Author Unknown

When we feel overwhelmed, we tend to put off distasteful tasks—or those that seem big and scary—such as cleaning the garage or preparing for a big party. Claiming we work best under pressure, we shop, bake, clean, and decorate in a last-minute frenzy. As time rushes forward and the deadline looms, we sweep piles of laundry and schoolwork into drawers and closets, abandon the balloons and streamers, and purchase a hastily chosen gift card because we never got around to buying a present.

“Procrastinators generally don’t do well under pressure,” says Joseph Ferrari, associate professor of psychology at Chicago’s DePaul University. The idea that time pressure improves performance is a myth. In truth, procrastination can result in:

• Health and sleep problems.
• Anxiety and panic as tasks pile up.
• Poor performance and inefficiency.
• Guilt.

As William James aptly put it, “Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task.”

Five Steps Toward Overcoming Procrastination

The best way to get something done is to begin.  ~Author Unknown

Putting off a writing assignment till the last minute can lead to a rushed and sloppy paper hastily written just before it’s due. It may also leave your child feeling too pressured or anxious to do a good job. As with the lazy student, the procrastinator needs a strategy. Try these suggestions to help your child make wiser use of her time. 

1. Work on adopting a “do it first” attitude.

Tackling unpleasant or disagreeable tasks earlier in the day—when your student is fresh and alert—often means greater progress in shorter time. 

2. Establish a deadline for the writing project.

When you don’t give a cut-off date, you imply that your child can put the task off indefinitely. Set a date and stick to it.

3. Divide the assignment into smaller chunks.

While a deadline is important, it doesn’t ensure that your student will pace herself. So in addition to assigning a distant due date for the whole composition or report, give more frequent due dates for parts of the project. For a short composition, assign brainstorming, rough draft, self-editing, second draft, parent editing, and a final draft. For a report or term paper, you’ll also want to see topic ideas, note cards, outlines, etc.

The writing process, by its very nature, is a series of steps. However, the procrastinator is prone to completely skip steps (or else cram several steps into one last-ditch writing session). Assignments spread over several days or weeks—with mini due dates scheduled along the way—help train her to spread out her work and not save it all till the last minute. A schedule or plan that outlines each step makes the best defense against procrastination.

4. Don’t neglect to follow up.

Your student needs to allow drafts to rest between writing sessions. But since she tends to wait till the last minute, she typically leaves no time for revising or refining. Make sure that you hold her accountable along the way with checklists and deadlines, and check her work regularly to keep her on task.

As the parent and teacher, you’re responsible to ensure that your child is doing the work and sticking to her deadlines. We homeschoolers can get lax about this. If you say “I’ll check over your work later,” but fail to do so, you continue to perpetuate the problem of procrastination. By not checking up on your student or asking to see her assignments, you unfortunately model the very behavior you seek to correct.

5. Set up task-appropriate rewards.

Come up with ways to reward your student’s steps of progress. Completing her brainstorming on time or writing her rough draft may earn her some computer or TV time. Finishing a task ahead of the due date could merit even more time to spend with her friends, read for pleasure, or work on her hobbies.

Do you ever feel like YOU are your child’s main stumbling block? If so, you won’t want to miss next week’s article, which addresses parental criticism. Check it out and soak up the encouragement!

Share a comment: Does your child procrastinate? What is one new thing you can do toward changing his or her behavior?

Leaving a comment at any Stumbling Blocks article enters you into a drawing for a $25 WriteShop gift certificate. You can earn up to eleven chances in the drawing by commenting on all eleven articles!

2009 © Kim Kautzer. All rights reserved.

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WriteShop  provides schedules and checklists that give direction to a procrastinator. Parent supervision is also a key element of the program. Train your little ones early using WriteShop Primary. For older students, choosing WriteShop I and II will help you equip and inspire successful writers!